Invasion or liberation?

Invasion or liberation?

I would like to add to the article titled Chinese invasion or
liberation of Tibet by Andreas Landwehr in the Oct. 7 edition of
The Jakarta Post.

With the Chinese revolution of 1911, the Qing dynasty
collapsed. As a successor, the newly founded republic continued
to take responsibility for all territories of Qing with the
Ministry of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs which was later renamed
in 1928 as the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. But as a
result of the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
and Guo Min Dang (GMD) and invasions by foreign powers, the
central government rarely exercised authority from 1912 to 1949
until the founding of the PRC.

After 1911, Tibet sent representatives to the National
People's Congress of the newly founded republic. The Dalai (all
embracing) Lama title itself is actually not a Tibetan title but
a Mongolian title given by a Mongolian prince to the third
successor of the yellow sect in mid-16th century. In fact, it was
the Mongolians during the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368) who exercised
full sovereignty over Tibet.

There are pockets of Tibetans in the Tibetan plateau of
Qinghau, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces but they are mixed
inhabited areas of Han, Hui, Mongolian Uyghur, Kazakh, Naxi, Bai
etc.

About the Tibetan uprisings and rebellions from the 1950s
until the 1960s, it was actually a secret CIA proxy war. It was a
war code-named ST Circus. The Newsweek's cover story on Tibet in
its April 19, 1999 edition gave a very good account of how CIA
helped fund, train and air-drop the Tibetan guerrillas from a
secret base in Takhli, Thailand to Tibet. Once, the defense
secretary Robert McNamara even personally intervened to persuade
the New York Times to spike the story of the training of 300
Tibetans in Camp Hale in Colorado.

The Asian Wall Street Journal of Jan. 13 also reported how the
CIA agent, Anthony Pospheny, helped organize the escape of the
Dalai Lama from Tibet in 1959. This same CIA agent reportedly
also helped foment a failed coup in Indonesia.

The Singapore Strait Times also had an interesting special
report on Tibet from Nov. 5 to Nov. 7, 1999. Before 1950, 95
percent of Tibetans worked as slaves or serfs for the remaining 5
percent of monks/aristocrats and officials who would as
punishment to the slaves, practice skinning, eye-gorging and
smashing of kneecaps.

Now 95.5 percent of the 2.5 million population are Tibetans
and Tibetan language and literature are compulsory for ethnic
Tibetans. Before 1951, only 2 percent of school-aged children
attended schools but now 81 percent are in the elementary
schools. There are still 46,000 nuns and monks with 1,700
monasteries. Tibetan officials account for 75 percent of the
68,000 officials there.

In 1959, there were only 460 telephone lines but now there are
149,000. The Tibetan GDP increased 47 folds from 1959 until to
date. The average life expectancy has increased from 35.5 years
in 1950 to 67 years at present.

Additionally, for all above and in the name of both human and
Tibetan dignity, it was a liberation.

SIA KA MOU

sia@centrin.net.id